SAM Hammam has branded the BBC-sponsored FAW Premier Cup as 'Minnie Mouse' in a scathing attack on the competition.

SAM Hammam has branded the BBC-sponsored Football Association of Wales Premier Cup as 'Minnie Mouse' in a scathing attack on the competition which he says Cardiff City will snub next season.

The Bluebirds chief will instead insist that efforts at Ninian Park are focused on winning the Welsh Cup, if plans within the gov- erning body's corridors of power get the final green light.

And if City can claim the trophy for the 23rd time, Hammam will then be in a position to claim the European odyssey he has craved since arriving in south Wales.

The FAW is believed to have told the club's that it will be up to them to lobby Uefa for the right to take their place in the Uefa Cup.

But that's a battle Hammam will attack with all his cus- tomary vengeance.

"Matters are getting very interesting now after several meetings with the FAW about this subject," said Hammam.

"It's our right to be in the Welsh Cup next season and as for the FAW Premier Cup, it's not even a Mickey Mouse Cup - it's a Minnie Mouse Cup!

"As it stands at the moment, we will not be playing in that com- petition next season.

"It is simply not worth me risking key players at this club to win it or to take part in the matches.

"We don't take the competition seriously. In fact, we have used play- ers aged just 16 and 17.

"Europe is the ultimate goal for Cardiff City Football Club - not win- ning the FAW Premier Cup."

One of the first battles Hammam ploughed into when he arrived at City was a bid to restore the glory nights of European football.

But he failed to get past the red tape put in his way by the football authorities.

Now after exhaustive meetings with FAW power brokers he appears to be close to getting his way.

The development will probably spark panic at BBC Wales where bosses are already reeling following the loss of the Wales football con- tract to Sky, who trumped them with a forward-thinking #10m bid.

Because with a revamped Welsh Cup on the cards, the death knell would surely sound for the corpor- ation's FAW Premier Cup.

But there will be few tears shed for it - and certainly none from Hammam who insists his Welsh Cup lobbying has been done not just for Cardiff, but for Swansea City and Wrexham as well.

"I have had many meetings recently with our friends at the FAW about the subject of the Welsh Cup," he re- vealed.

"This club and our brother clubs Swansea City and Wrexham should be in the Welsh Cup - they are Welsh aren't they?

"Anything to do with Cardiff City comes under the umbrella of the FAW - yet funnily enough at the moment we cannot represent our own country and association.

"We should be in the Welsh Cup - and the club that wins that com- petition should be nominated by their association to go forward and rep- resent their country in Europe in true and honest fashion.

"In the past, have we really put the best clubs in Wales forward to rep- resent this country?

"The answer is no."

Yet while City would be big fa- vourites to lift the trophy they would not have it all their own way, par- ticularly if they fielded a below strength side.

Swansea City, Wrexham and Mer- thyr Tydfil and Newport would all stand a puncher's chance of toppling Lennie Lawrence's men.

All those clubs were formally exiled from the Welsh Cup when the national league was formed in 1992, although administrative bartering allowed them to compete until the 1994-95 season when Wrexham beat City 2-1 in the final.

Yet amid all the furore surrounding this latest development, Hammam in- sists his priority remains emphatically to push through the new stadium.

"The new stadium is vital to this club and its future," he said.

"It has not gone as quickly as I would have liked, but we will get there in the end."